Abstract:

The paper presents an innovative approach to immersive (project) formative reading aimed at developing learners’ speech, logical and design thinking, curiosity, creativity, consistency, interactivity, and ethno-linguistic-cultural competence. The technique views immersive reading as a process of step-by-step learner’s immersion into a text, consciously perceiving and living it through feelings, sensations, mental images, and reflected experience. It is a process of active interaction between the learner and the text, where the learner is a direct participant in the situation, lives its core, reflects, and packs the personal cases as a puzzle to complete the necessary connections in his/her individual experience (phenomenology). It significantly reduces the gap between theory in the domain field and meaningful practice. During the process, the learner goes through the steps of conscious perception – I see/I hear, I feel, I understand, I want, I know, I am able to, I can, and I do. Therefore, immersive reading shapes the learner’s identity (self-understanding, self-perception) with a focus on reflection. It is also project-oriented since the steps are the basis of any (waterfall or agile) design, from the problem identification down to the infinity of options for action, related to its solution and outcomes.

The text used in immersive reading has a five-part compositional structure, which starts with the exposition– a situation familiar to the student, in the context in which he/she is immersed in the reading process. The beginning is followed by an unexpected challenge – a plot twist (e.g., violating a taboo or a request from a senior to do some work). As the learner accepts the challenge, he/she becomes a proactive participant in a textual situation initiating one’s own transformation.

When the learner faces the story climax and becomes aware of the issue that arose in the reading process, so he/she has a conscious desire to eliminate it and restore the original state of things. As a result of such activity-oriented and person-oriented reading, the learner starts looking for opportunities to solve the problem and achieve the goal that appeared during the text reading.

At the denouement stage, it becomes clear that the goal is not only achievable but also necessary for the reader’s personal development and his/her new perception of things. Resolving the problem leads to a deeper understanding of the world. So, a new status quo is formed, and in the future, it will serve as the beginning of a different story, commencing a new transformation cycle. The learner will be ready to apply this experience in practice on his/her own because of the formative project reading, framed by cases.

The validity of the immersive approach applied to a text of any genre, in any language, and considering relevant culture is proven by the development of speech, logical and design thinking, curiosity, creativity, consistency, interactivity, and ethno-linguistic-cultural competence in children. Educational projects based on immersive reading were held in Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Russia, Singapore, and Estonia. This reading technique is suitable for students of any age (life-long-learning approach).

The narrative-compositional structure considered within the technique of immersive (formative) reading can be found in national fairy tales around the world, bringing us to the conclusion about the intercultural and archetypical nature of the composition.

Keywords:

Lifelong learning, immersive reading, soft skills, competency-based education, learning innovation, experiential learning, student-centered learning, education.